SoftBank Lands $236M From Alibaba And Foxconn To Bring Its Pepper Robot To The World

Remember Pepper, the intelligent robot that SoftBank unveiled last year? Pepper goes on sale in Japan this coming weekend, but in advance of that launch SoftBank has revealed that Alibaba and manufacturer Foxconn have invested $118 million each in its robotics division.

That deal will give Alibaba and Foxconn 20 percent shares in SoftBank Robotics Holdings (known as SBRH), with SoftBank retaining a dominant 60 percent stake.

“SoftBank, Alibaba and Foxconn will build a structure to bring Pepper and other robotics businesses to global markets, and cooperate with the aim of spreading and developing the robotics industry on a worldwide scale,” SoftBank said in its announcement.

SoftBank isn’t short on money, of course — it is building up quite a portfolio of e-commerce investments across Asia — but its two partners bring know-how, strategy and global networks to the table. So, it looks like Pepper has eventual world domination plans. Or, at least, plans to be helpful on an international scale.

Pepper, which is manufactured by Foxconn, is initially a household robot. SoftBank has made 1,000 models available for early adopting consumers who want to be the first to plonk down 198,000 JPY (approximately $1,600) to put the humanoid in their home. Customers are, however, subject to monthly service fees of up to 24,600 JPY ($200) over the course of a three-year contract.

This is just the start, and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son revealed that a business version of the bot will come later this year. In addition, canned comments from Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Foxconn CEO Terry Gou make it very clear that this investment is about robotics in general, not just cute little Pepper.

“Robotics will become a critical field that catalyzes technological breakthroughs in numerous sectors such as healthcare, public services, research and at home. Our partnership with SoftBank and Foxconn combines the best hardware and software talent in the industry to pave the way for robotics research and development,” Ma said.

Gou, who has already invested heavily in robotics to automate large parts of Foxconn’s production processes and has a partnership with Google, added: “Foxconn is committed to investing in innovation that enables us to deliver cutting-edge solutions to our customers and that supports our goal of leveraging technology to bring greater convenience to the lives of consumers around the world.”

Initially we may see Pepper put to work in households, assisting Japan’s elderly, or helping businesses — Nestlé used the robot to sell coffee in Tokyo — but the future of SBRH — which includes France-based Aldebaran, acquired by SoftBank for $100 million in 2013 — is likely to be a lot more varied and wide-ranging given these new investors and the scope of the plans that they are hatching.

Comments

Shatterproof screens to protect smartphones

Polymer scientists at the University of Akron in Ohio have developed a transparent electrode that could change the face of smartphones, literally, by making their displays shatterproof. In a recently published paper, researchers show how a transparent layer of nanowire-based electrodes on a polymer surface could be extraordinarily tough and flexible, withstanding repeated scotch tape peeling and bending tests. This could revolutionise and replace conventional touchscreens, according to Yu Zhu, UA assistant professor of polymer science. Currently used coatings made of indium tin oxide (ITO) are more brittle, most likely to shatter, and increasingly costly to manufacture. “These two pronounced factors drive the need to substitute ITO with a cost-effective and flexible conductive transparent film,” Zhu says, adding that the new film provides the same degree of transparency as ITO, yet offers greater conductivity. The novel film retains its shape and functionality after tests i...

Get 56GB of free cloud storage in one folder!

Bring Your Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, & OneDrive All Together In One Folder With odrive! Dropbox gives you up to 16GB free. Google Drive & Gmail give you 15GB. OneDrive gives you 15GB. Box gives you 10GB. odrive brings all your cloud storage apps together in one folder right on your desktop. Just link your Dropbox, Google Drive, Gmail, Box, and OneDrive accounts to odrive and instantly get all your files scattered everywhere in one place! You can even link multiple accounts from each app to get even more! 1. Install odrive. DOWNLOAD It's free! And available for Windows & Mac :) 3.Get all your stuff! 2. Link all your cloud storage accounts. Note: This gives odrive permission to download your files for you. odrive doesn't store anything, we promise! OXYGEN CLOUD, INC., 1600 SEAPORT BLVD, REDWOOD CITY, CA, 94063, UNITED ...

So, when will your device actually get Android Oreo?

Google officially just took the wraps off of Android Oreo, but there are still some questions left to be answered — most notably, precisely when each device will be getting the latest version of the mobile operating system. Due to Android’s openness and a variety of different factors on the manufacturing side, it’s not an easy question to answer, but we’ll break it down best we can. First the good news: If your device was enrolled in the Android Beta Program, you’ll be getting your hands on the final version of the software “soon,” according to Google. Exactly what that means remains to be seen, but rest assured that you’ll be one of of the first people outside of Google to take advantage of picture-in-picture, notification dots and the like. No big surprise, Google handsets will be the first non-beta phones to get the update. The Pixel, Nexus 5X and 6P are at the top of the list, alongside Pixel C tablet and ASUS’s Nexus Player set-top box, which will be receiving the upgrade i...

The Withings Go Is A Cheap Little Activity Tracker

Withings has one more thing up its sleeve, a new activity tracker. This isn’t a new version of the Pulse or Activité. This is a brand new activity tracker. And the best part is that it only costs $69. The Withings Go uses an always-on E Ink display like the one on your Kindle or original Pebble. It’s very power efficient but it’s also a black and white display. But the good thing about this kind of display is that the Withings Go uses a button cell battery and the battery lasts 8 months. This new device tracks your steps, distance, running activity and swimming activity. You can also use it to track your sleep cycles. Compared to other entry-level activity trackers, you can do quite a lot. You don’t have to switch between activities — the device switches automatically. And of course, you can get your data in the Withings Health Mate app on iOS and Android. The Withings Go will be available in Q1 2016. Now the question is whether people want ...

Where does Blue Apron go after Amazon wraps up its Whole Foods deal?

Last week, Amazon said that its massive $13.7 billion deal to acquire Whole Foods is wrapping up on Monday — giving it access to one of the strongest food brands in the United States, as well as hundreds of grocery stores in metropolitan areas. That means it’s going to be easier and easier for people to get access to great ingredients, and there’s been a continued trickle of suggestions that Amazon will be gunning for a massive business that helped Blue Apron go public — a trickle that has since tempered Wall Street’s appetite for that business. All this raises a ton of questions as to what the future of Blue Apron is as Amazon looks primed to bulldoze into its territory in a very Amazon move. But as the specter of Amazon getting into meal-kit delivery looms, let’s review really quickly what Blue Apron has going for it: It has a strong brand in meal-kit delivery. The company wouldn’t have been able to go public, much less sustain unicorn status even as its stock continues to plumme...

Exciting Technology

Search This Blog